New Rent Demands for Commercial and Residential Landlords

Rent Demand Templates

May 2014

New Rent Demands

Landlords, whether of commercial premises or residential properties, expect their properties to generate an income. A key strategy in maintaining and improving the financial performance of their portfolio is to make sure that rent is paid in full and on time.

Our new template rent demands can be used by landlords as the first step in the rent collection process. If the rent is not paid on time, landlords can then use our rent arrears letters to remind tenants that rent is overdue and advise them of the consequences should the rent remain unpaid.

There is a template rent demand for commercial properties and two types of rent demand for residential tenancies. For short-term tenancies landlords should use the Residential Rent Demand. For residential long leases (those with a term exceeding 21 years) the Ground Rent Demand should be used.

Rent demands for commercial premises

Our Commercial Rent Demand is in an easy-to-use Excel spreadsheet format. There are fields for all necessary details, including the amount of rent, the period to which it relates and the landlord’s bank details.

Rent demands for short-term residential tenancies

The Residential Rent Demand is also in Excel format, containing fields for the amount of rent due, the period to which it relates and the landlord’s bank details.

In order to comply with section 47 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, which requires the landlord’s name and address to be contained in all demands for rent, there is a section where the landlord’s name and address must be inserted. The address must be the landlord’s own address and not that of the landlord’s agent.

There is also an optional statement under section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. Section 48 requires a landlord to provide his tenant with an address in England and Wales where notices may be served on the landlord. This can be the landlord’s own address or the address of a managing agent or other third party. Unless and until this requirement has been complied with, any rent or service charge will not be legally due from the tenant. This information does not need to appear on every rent demand, so if the details have already been provided to the tenant the section 48 statement can be deleted.

Ground rent demands for long residential leases

The Ground Rent Demand is in the form required by section 166 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 and The Landlord and Tenant (Notice of Rent) (England) Regulations 2004. If this prescribed form of Ground Rent Demand is not used, or is not completed properly, the tenant is not required to pay his or her rent until a proper demand is made. It is therefore essential that the landlord completes the form correctly.

As with the Residential Rent Demand, the landlord’s name and address details need to be inserted so as to comply with section 47 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 and landlords should consider whether a section 48 notice is also required.

The contents of this Newsletter are for reference purposes only and do not constitute
legal advice. Independent legal advice should be sought in relation to any specific
legal matter.